


She hates me

by endlesspossibilitiesinlife



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-17
Updated: 2017-07-17
Packaged: 2018-12-03 07:39:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11527638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/endlesspossibilitiesinlife/pseuds/endlesspossibilitiesinlife
Summary: She hates me, right? She has always hated me. So why does it feel like things are changing between us?





	She hates me

She hated me. That was a fact I knew for sure about my stepsister. A few days ago, I would have told you that we hated each other. That on the other hand was a thing I wasn’t so sure of anymore. When she first came into my life a few months ago, I despised her more than anything. Even more than my new stepmother.

 

My new stepmother Samantha, aka stepmother number three, was all about ignoring with me. And it’s not like I liked her in any way but at least she wasn’t bothering me and kept out of my way.

 

Emily, my new stepsister, on the other hand seemed like she made it her personal mission to make my life hell. If it had gone the same way as with all the other women in my father’s life, I wouldn’t have had to deal with her that much. But no, poor Emily had been bullied at her old school, which I don’t believe for a second, so they had to move in with us as quickly as possible.

 

And because everything seemed to be different this time my dad actually started to care about her. Emily this, Emily that. Emily wants the bigger room, of course Luce is switching with you. Emily doesn’t want to go to vacation to California; why don’t we go to Florida instead. This was getting on my nerves from the start but the longer we lived together, the more Emily figured out what I didn’t like and suddenly that was all she wanted.

 

I tried to talk with Dad about it but of course there was no use. He hadn’t cared about what I wanted ever since Mom had died. I was sure he would throw a party once I was finally out of the house and off to college.

 

Life at home was like hell but life in school wasn’t better ever since Emily had transferred there. Somehow everybody loved her. She made captain of the cheerleading squad on her first day. The boys were all trying to get a date with her, even though as far as I knew, she had always denied and the girls all wanted to be like her. Even my friends loved her so every time I would say something that was the least bit negative about her they would shut me down. I had never felt so lonely.

 

So naturally she had become my worst enemy. Well, at least she had been until yesterday. Now on the other hand I was just completely confused. The day had started as usual. Emily blasting loud music in the bathroom next to my room to wake me up. Then taking a half-hour shower, so there was only ice-cold water left for me and finally making my dad make French Toast for breakfast which I absolutely hate.

 

Everything had been normal until my dad dropped a comment when we were already almost out of the door to catch the bus. “Luce, you’ll have to go to the grave alone today. I want to surprise Samantha with a date.” I sucked in my breath. “Why would you be going to a grave today anyway?”, Emily asked my dad with her usual smile that everybody except from me got to see. My dad just shrugged. “Luce’s mom died today a few years ago and Luce always wants me to come. But you know… priorities.” He grinned at her and then added the worst thing he possibly could have said: “I always like to say, the dead don’t gain anything from me weeping there, the living ones on the other hand...” I looked at Emily who was just standing there, looking shocked and shaking her head. “I think we need to go”, she answered quietly before pulling me out the door. I am pretty sure that was the second time we ever touched. The only other time had been the handshake when we had met each other for the first time.

 

She turned to me once we were out of the house. She was looking at me as if she was searching for an answer in my face. She seemed to give up after a while. “Was he for real? Is it really your mom’s death-day?” I nodded, not knowing where she was going with this. Emily was quiet for a long time. Then right when the bus came around the corner she whispered: “I am so sorry, Luce.” I was so confused already but there was more to come.

 

Once we got to school we went our separate ways like we always did but any time I passed Emily and she saw me, her face fell and she looked as if she was trying to decide something. I just had no idea about what. I would get the answer a few hours later when we got off the bus.

 

I was about to walk towards our house when she grabbed my arm. “What Emily?”, I asked her, obviously annoyed. All I wanted right then was to go visit my mom. I really couldn’t use another one of Emily’s ideas that always ended up being a disaster for me right now. “I know you want your dad there but I just wanted to offer that I could go with you to the grave. If I ask your father nicely enough, I am sure he’ll even let us borrow his car so you don’t have to take the bus.” I laughed bitterly. “Of course, he would if YOU ask.” Then I realized what she had just offered. Now I was more confused than ever. Was Emily really trying to be nice?

 

She sighed, “I understand if you say no. I would too… the way I treated you. I am aware that I am being an asshole towards you and no I can’t explain it but I really want to make this day better for you.” I just looked at her for a few more minutes and then surprised both of us with my answer. “Okay.”

 

Emily drove me to the graveyard in silence. Once we arrived there, she offered to stay in the car if I didn’t want her to come but I told her I didn’t care. I really didn’t. She had been so nice, making her stay in the car would have just been mean, since I knew it would take a while.

 

Once we arrived at my mom’s grave, I kneeled down. Emily was quietly standing behind me, while I was praying. When I got back up after what must have been at least 15 mins, she whispered: “If you don’t want to answer, just tell me to go away... Are you the one taking care of the grave?” I nodded. “It’s beautiful.” I smiled. “Thanks!”, I whispered back. We were quiet for a little longer, then she spoke up again: “Tell me about her.” I was about to tell her that it was none of her business but then I looked up at her face and she smiled so sincerely that I just had to. We sat down on a bench near the grave and I told her about my mom. Emily listened so intently and only asked question whenever I finished to keep me talking. We must have sat there for hours. The drive back was as silent as the drive to the graveyard but it felt like the air had shifted between us.

 

That night I was lying awake for hours thinking about what had happened that day. Was it possible that the Emily I had seen today was the real her? But then why was she always that mean towards me? I just couldn’t figure it out but I knew I wanted to have the chance to get to know the Emily from that day better.

 

My wish wasn’t fulfilled though. The following days, Emily was as rude as always if not even worse. By now I was sure it would always stay that way. I hadn’t expected the next day to happen.

 

My dad and my stepmom had decided it was time for a family outing and they obviously thought going to the fair was the perfect option. Everything was going as always. Emily was getting everything she wanted and I hated every moment of the trip. Nothing special happened. At least not until “our parents” decided we needed sisterly bonding time and left us alone. Not until we ran into people from her old school.

 

“Oh, who do we have here? Our world’s favorite dyke! Isn’t that nice?” I wouldn’t even have noticed them if Emily wouldn’t have stopped in the middle of her argument against whatever I had suggested. She just seemed to have frozen right then and there. “Is that one your girlfriend, huh?”, the same blonde girl asked again. Her friends started laughing. I raised my eyebrows. “Actually, I am her stepsister and I would really like to know what you are talking about.” I told the group of teenagers. There seemed to be around ten in total but the girl that had started was definitely the leader.

 

She smirked. “Oh, you haven’t told your stepsister your little secret yet?” I turned to look at Emily. She had grown pale and was shaking by now. That’s when I realized the reasoning for moving in with us hadn’t been a lie. These must have been her bullies in her old school.

 

“Want to explain it to her now, Emily?”, one of the blonde girl’s friends asked with a false sweetness in her voice. Out of the corner of my eye I could see tears forming in my stepsister’s eyes. “No?”, the leader took over again, “Well, it’s a good thing that we are here.” She turned to me. “See the girl you are sharing a house with is the most disgusting dyke, I have ever seen.” I flinched at her wording but didn’t answer so she kept going.

 

“She manipulated our football-star’s girlfriend and made her go out with her. When the poor girl came back to her senses and got back together with her boyfriend, this dyke here freaked out and blamed her. Isn’t she a freak?” I could hear Emily trying to keep from sobbing next to me, she was barely successful. “So, we showed her where her place in our school is but obviously she was too pussy to stay there.” She smiled her sweetest smile at me. “It’s so good that we met you and you can protect yourself now and obviously put her into place, at home and at school.”

 

My mind was racing. There was so much that I wanted to say or more precisely scream at them, but I could see that Emily was close to a complete breakdown and I wasn’t going to let that happen. Not in front of these idiots.

 

I smiled my best fake-smile at them. “Thank you so much for the info! Do you mind if I have a word with this one here alone? I think we should definitely have a talk about this before, you know, I have to go home with her. All of them smiled back. “Of course,” the blonde girl said, “Over there is a park that should be pretty quiet. I nodded at her, pretending to be thankful. “Let’s go!” I said to Emily harshly and to my surprise she came with me without a single complaint.

 

After a few meters, I stopped her and pulled her around a corner. “Let’s go this way. I know a quieter place.” She just nodded and followed me. Just a few streets away there was a tree house in the least visited corner of the park. Nobody ever went here anymore so I hoped it would be empty and it was. Emily was still sobbing and I honestly started to wonder how she kept following me without breaking down but once we were up the tree she fell to her knees.

 

I sat next to her and pulled her into a hug. She immediately stiffened, her sobs growing louder. I shook my head and told her quietly: “Shh, it’s okay. You’re okay. They’re gone. You’re safe. Just relax.” It took her a few more seconds but then she let herself fall into the embrace. Her arms were tightening around my waist as if she was afraid of me letting go.

 

It took me almost half an hour until Emily calmed down a little bit and her sobs subsided. I pulled away carefully to take a look at her face. She was staring at the floor but I could see how red and swollen her eyes were. I gently touched her chin to guide her face up so she had to look at me. All I could see in her eyes was pain and fear and I just wanted to be able to wipe it all away but I knew that I couldn’t and I also knew that we had to talk.

 

“Can I ask you something?”, I began softly as not to startle her. Emily nodded. “Do you think it’s a bad thing? Do you think your sexuality is something to be ashamed of?” Her eyes were glued to her hands and her voice was not louder than a whisper but she answered immediately. “Of course. It makes me a freak.” I nodded. “Okay, can I ask you another question?” She looked up for a second. “You can ask all the questions you want.” I smiled at her. “Do you think I am a freak?” She furled her eyebrows. “No, of course not.” I chuckled, thinking how if I had asked her that question the day before her answer would for sure have been yes. Then I turned serious again. “Well, double standards don’t count. When you are a freak because you are gay, I am a freak because I am a lesbian, too.”

 

She stared at me in shock. “Are you making fun of me?”, she asked me with a shaking voice. I shook my head. “No, I swear I am as gay as can be. I mean, have you looked at the posters in my room?” A small smile crept on her face. “Well, I was trying to convince myself that you as an artist just appreciate the beauty of women.” Now I full-on laughed. I wished we could have kept it that lightly but I knew we had to talk about what had happened at the fair.

 

“These girls… what they just did now; is it what they also did to you in school?” She was looking out of the tree house window. “It was ten times worse. It wasn’t only the talk. They threw me into lockers and ruined my schoolwork. There’s no way you can imagine what it was like without having been there.” I scooted closer to Emily and put my hand on her arm. I wanted her to know I was there. “I begged my mom to let me change school but she didn’t allow it. Too much of a hassle. That changed when she met your dad and having had to move so quickly obviously had its advantages for her.”

 

She turned around to look at me. “I would have never agreed to this under different circumstances but I needed to get out of there, Luce.” I nodded. “I understand.” We just looked at each other for a while. Then she shook her head and laughed lightly. “What?”, I asked her with a smile on my face. She looked me in the eyes. “You know, it’s just… I have been afraid of you figuring it out for so long and now you are telling me you are gay too and this is all so ridiculous.” I chuckled. “Well, that’s life I guess.”

 

That moment her phone rang and my dad told us to meet up with them right away so we climbed down and went back to the fair. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. Samantha and my father didn’t even notice our missing bickering because they were so entranced by each other.

 

When we were waiting for them to get the car, one more thing came to my mind that the girls had said. I turned to Emily. “So, you really don’t have to talk about it but the girl they mentioned…” I let my voice trail off. I could see the hurt in her eyes but she still turned to look at me and answered: “There’s not much to tell you. They summed it up pretty well. Her name was Sarah. She was my first and only girlfriend. I thought we were happy but apparently we weren’t because one day after our six months anniversary she broke up with me to get back together with her ex. Since he was a homophobic asshole, like basically everybody else at the school, he wouldn’t take her back at first, so she told him how I manipulated her. And because he was the most popular guy in school literally everyone, even my own friends, turned on me from that moment on and that’s when life became hell.” I swallowed hard. “I am so sorry. I don’t even know what to say….” She smiled at me. “It’s okay. Some people are just assholes. I guess we have to live with that.” Then my dad came around the corner with the car and that was the end of the conversation.

 

I had been expecting another sleepless night and I had been right. The same questions as last time were stuck in my head. Would it change anything between us? Was that the real her? But why had she been so mean all this time? I was about to go find my headphones so that I could put on some music to drown out my thoughts when I heard somebody knocking on my door.

 

“Yes?” Emily’s head peaked inside. “I know it’s late but I need to tell you something. Do you have a minute?” Of course I said yes. I wasn’t going to get any sleep either way. Emily made her way into my room quietly and then closed the door. She looked nervous and she kept fidgeting with her pajama.

 

 “Just spit it out, Emily. You are making me nervous too”, I said softly. She smiled at me apologetically. “Sorry, it’s just… I am really afraid of what you’ll think of me after you know what I am about to tell you.” I smiled back at her. “Hey, no matter what it is, I am not going to judge you or think worse of you.” Another smile; this time thankful.

 

“Okay, so here it goes… I am sure you have been wondering why was so rude to you.” I shrugged. “Yeah kind of.” She nodded. “Well, there is a reason for this and it’s going to sound really dumb but I need you to know.” I smiled at her patiently. “Okay.” She nodded again as if giving herself the okay to go on.

 

“So here is the thing. I don’t know if you remember this but right at the beginning when I didn’t know you I actually wasn’t behaving like an asshole. I know you were still super annoyed because your dad gave me everything I wanted but I wasn’t mean to you or anything like that.” She was right. I had been really annoyed but she had been polite and fairly nice towards me. I had always thought the reason for that had been that she just hadn’t known how to annoy me in the beginning.

 

Emily kept on going: “Well, the thing is there is a reason why my behavior shifted like this. Like you know I was super afraid that you could find out that I am gay…” Her voice drifted off. “So, you were mean to me so that I wouldn’t find out?”, I asked her, trying to follow her train of thoughts. She nodded. “Partially but that wasn’t the whole reason….” She was quiet again. Then she shook her head. “Fuck, I just can’t do this. Sorry!” She was about to get up when I grabbed her arm.

 

“Emily, listen whatever it is, it can’t be that bad. Just tell me. I promise we can figure it out.” She sighed and sat back down. “Okay, so well… I started being an asshole when I realized that I liked you.” I looked at her in shock. Was I dreaming? She must have seen the doubt in my face because she kept on talking. “And Luce I mean it. I liked you in the gay way not in the friendly way and I still do.”

 

She was staring intently at her hands now. “I just wanted you to know… I think I should go now.” She got up again. “Could you stop running away, please Emily?” She sighed and sat back down. Emily still hadn’t looked at me so I did the same thing I had done in the tree house earlier that day. I guided her chin up carefully to make her look at me. “All I have as a response is one question, Em. If I’d ask you out on a date, how high are the chances of you saying yes?” I smiled at her while she was staring at me in shock. “You know an answer would be nice”, I told her with a wink. She started blushing. “Of course. Well, the answer is 100%. Definitely!” She stumbled over her words. I laughed. “Well then… Emily Peterson, would you please go out on a date with me?” A big grin spread over her face. “I’d love to.” We both laughed.

“You know you are an idiot, right?”, I asked her a few minutes later. We had decided that since It was getting late we should get some sleep but when she was by the door she looked so disappointed that I asked her to sleep in my room tonight. Emily had accepted that offer with a beaming grin. “Why exactly am I an Idiot?”, she asked turning around to face me. “You could have saved both of us from months of suffering.” She shrugged. “At least they payed off, didn’t they?” And I could do nothing but agree. That night felt like the first good night of sleep in weeks and waking up in her arms in the morning was definitely a bonus.

 

 


End file.
